Best Poughkeepsie Poems
Like bookends, Grandma and Grandpa —
those smiles — only one wears the apron
and the music, classical and gypsy
I was glowing in their eyes, growing
only for one who kept her pride of me,
when for the longest time, inferiority.
Blessing of a Hungarian household
we left just in time for the drama to build
there was rifts, crashes and death
and in one Poughkeepsie starter home
no Christmas tree to be found in 1962
Did we feel the sudden sadness —
my dad’s heart imploding — his dad’s
book closed, forever...forever stretches out
reality is a sudden blowout
only now in his wrinkled years
can he leak information from his tears
1/17/2021
Categories:
poughkeepsie, death,
Form:
Free verse
There is a state of mind known as woebegone
In which one feels like an addict on methadone
The more one tries to feel upbeat
The more one suffers mental defeat
And the mind plays on like a gramophone.
8
The boys outside the bar appeared rapscallion
Their actions were downright reptilian
Every time a girl would walk by
One would let out a loud cry
Acting just like an overheated young stallion
8
There was an old lady from New Jersey
Who recently moved to Poughkeepsie
She met this old fart
In a local Kmart
And the two proceeded to get quite tipsy
8
Roger was smug and a bit of a grandee
Others viewed him as somewhat of a dandy
The girls giggled and downright snickered
Because they knew he sought entry to their knickers
But alas, with buttons and zippers he just wasn’t handy
8
Bobby was well known for his generosity
But also known for his excessive gulosity
He would take you to lunch anytime
But always state “what’s left over is mine”
And clean the table with the utmost ferocity
8
There was this old man from Toledo
That liked to parade around in his speedo
The old ladies would giggle
Watching his sagging butt jiggle
But it did little or nothing for their libido
8
There is this retired gentleman in south Buda
Who would like to vacation in Bermuda
But his poem book didn’t sell worth squat
Now he’s stuck with who knows what
As he reads travel brochures in his pad in south Buda
8
There is this Colorado guy in the Springs
Whose Windows computer does unusual things
The damn screen turned permanently black
So he went out and bought a new Mac
Now he doesn’t answer when his telephone rings
8
Categories:
poughkeepsie, funnyold, old,
Form:
Don’t you know Job Terry?
I thought everybody knew Job Terry
My name is Captain Job Terry,
my people from Kerry
But I a Poughkeepsie Celt.
I make a dashing impression,
Held down the whaling profession
For at least two score or more.
I’ve worked the coast like a rambler
Broke bread with Governors and gamblers,
Courted princesses and prostitutes to boot,
I’ve rubbed elbows with them all
Just name any Port of Call.
My name is Captain Job Terry.
Don’t you know Job Terry?
I thought everybody knew Job Terry
Categories:
poughkeepsie, adventure, allusion, celebrity, sea,
Form:
Rhyme
IS THAT A TRIVIAL TRIFLE OR A RIFLE?
Weightless
Weightless while watching ripples row their way across a wading pool
A pool that portended peace
A peaceful pool in the coolness of a kiss in springtime
A scene of serenity
Weightless
Thinking
Unblinking
Sinking into a pool of my own
A pool of thought
Caught somewhere between actuality and a playground in Poughkeepsie
And the thought occurs to me
No longer a blur to me
But crystal clear
As I consider the word “trivia” as in those trivia games people play
One might choose to say that I have a dispute with “Trivial Pursuit”
Well for just a moment or two let’s examine, explore, expose and exhume if you will
The meaning of the word “trivia”
Now I don’t own a dictionary, nor does anyone nearby
But as far as I can tell
The root word of “trivia” is trivial
As in unimportant, inconsequential, insignificant, and most notably
Trifling
And so I’m rifling through the attics and dungeons of my medulla oblongata
And I gotta say, in reference to these trivial games
No matter how convivial the participants are
I’m not spending hours being asked frivolous questions
And hearing petty answers
Answers that may be wrong or right
And thus to be edified and educated by the inconsequential
Meaning, in essence, of no consequence to anyone
At anytime
In any place
But that’s just my opinion
Coming from someone who comes dangerously close to being labeled a fool
Weightless
Weightless while watching water in a wading pool
Floating
And noting the trivial and trifling
© 2012…copyright…PHREEPOETREE ~free cee!~
Categories:
poughkeepsie, angst,
Form:
Quatrain
"How sweet to the heart are the scenes of my childhood"
Samuel Woodworth, 1785-1842
MY HUDSON VALLEY CHILDHOOD
Mother dropped us — we’ve no fear of attack,
shopping in Poughkeepsie, when it was clean.
Teens buy nail polish —hers blue, mine lilac.
Feathered-Farrah hair, wear bell-bottom jeans.*
No call waiting, phones attached to the wall.
Sans social media, not very mean.
Prom in auditorium — had a ball.
Wore wedding-white, back then I was scot-free.
I declared prophecy before my fall.**
Burgeoning sights and sounds —poetic me
adored rainstorms, the way the branches bend
at the onset when wind frazzles shade trees.
Perched in maple with my neighborhood friends,
riding my bicycle all around town —
sunny and cloudy days breathlessly spend.
Memory swinging at village playground.
My Hudson Valley’s a luscious hometown.
11/23/2020
Contest: Terza Rima Form
Sponsor: Constance La France
*Farrah Fawcett, Charlie’s Angels’ fame, 1970’s hairstyle
**Before I fell in love. I wore that same dress when I got married. I had said to my mother, “This would make a nice wedding dress.” I married just a few months after I joined the Navy. Had no idea I would find a husband or wear this dress when I got married. LOL...so young.
Categories:
poughkeepsie, childhood,
Form:
Terza Rima
IS THAT A TRIFLE OR A RIFLE?
waiting
Weightless
weight less than a pound
Weightless while watching ripples row their way across a wading pool
A pool that portended peace
A peaceful pool in the coolness of a kiss in springtime
A scene of serenity
Weightless
Thinking
Unblinking
Sinking into a pool of my own
A pool of thought
Caught somewhere between actuality and a playground in Poughkeepsie
And the thought occurs to me
No longer a blur to me
But crystal clear
As I consider the word “trivia” as in those trivia games people play
One might choose to say that I have a dispute with “Trivial Pursuit”
Well for just a moment or two let’s examine, explore, expose and exhume if you will
The meaning of the word “trivia”
Now I don’t own a dictionary, nor does anyone nearby
But as far as I can tell
The root word of “trivia” is trivial
As in unimportant, inconsequential, insignificant, and most notably
Trifling
And so I’m rifling through the attics and dungeons of my medulla oblongata
And I gotta say, in reference to these trivial games
No matter how convivial the participants are
I’m not spending hours being asked frivolous questions
And hearing petty answers
Answers that may be wrong or right
And thus to be edified and educated by the inconsequential
Meaning, in essence, of no consequence to anyone
At anytime
In any place
But that’s just my opinion
Coming from someone who comes dangerously close to being labeled a fool
Weightless
Weightless while watching water in a wading pool
Floating
And noting the trivial and trifling
© 2012…copyright…PHREEPOETREE ~free cee!~
Categories:
poughkeepsie, angst,
Form:
Free verse
A rottweiler with a dramatic flair
is a thespian beyond compare
He roams through Poughkeepsie
as the resident gypsy
always laying his emotions bare
Categories:
poughkeepsie, humor,
Form:
Limerick
There came into town a gun deadly and frightening,
a gun quicker than lightening,
fastest gun you've seen.
It was the gun in the hand of Steel-Eyed Kid Shelleen.
Just one look at him would confirm every rumor.
Kid was wild as a cougar,
proud and fierce and mean.
There was no man who was tougher than Steel-Eyed Kid Shelleen.
He had the eyes of a killer
and looks like the devil.
The look of a killer.
The look of the devil.
The face of a killer.
That man was the devil,
just wild and ornery and mean.
Kid Shelleen, the fastest gun you've ever seen.
Kid Shelleen died in Poughkeepsie
from an overdose of whiskey.
Categories:
poughkeepsie, cowboy-western
Form:
Rhyme
Poughkeepsie - Limerick
23/04/2018
There was a hot girl from Poughkeepsie
When she was drunk she thought she was tipsy
And she danced up a storm
Though it was humid and warm
And the people all thought she was ditsy
Categories:
poughkeepsie, funny,
Form:
Limerick
IS THAT A TRIFLE OR A RIFLE?
Weightless
Weightless while watching ripples row their way across a wading pool
A pool that portended peace
A peaceful pool in the coolness of a kiss in springtime
A scene of serenity
Weightless
Thinking
Unblinking
Sinking into a pool of my own
A pool of thought
Caught somewhere between actuality and a playground in Poughkeepsie
And the thought occurs to me
No longer a blur to me
But crystal clear
As I consider the word “trivia” as in those trivia games people play
One might choose to say that I have a dispute with “Trivial Pursuit”
Well for just a moment or two let’s examine, explore, expose and exhume if you will
The meaning of the word “trivia”
Now I don’t own a dictionary, nor does anyone nearby
But as far as I can tell
The root word of “trivia” is trivial
As in unimportant, inconsequential, insignificant, and most notably
Trifling
And so I’m rifling through the attics and dungeons of my medulla oblongata
And I gotta say, in reference to these trivial games
No matter how convivial the participants are
I’m not spending hours being asked frivolous questions
And hearing petty answers
Answers that may be wrong or right
And thus to be edified and educated by the inconsequential
Meaning, in essence, of no consequence to anyone
At anytime
In any place
But that’s just my opinion
Coming from someone who comes dangerously close to being labeled a fool
Weightless
Weightless while watching water in a wading pool
Floating
And noting the trivial and trifling
© 2012…copyright…PHREEPOETREE ~free cee!~
Categories:
poughkeepsie, angst,
Form:
Free verse
IS THAT A TRIFLE OR A RIFLE?
Weightless
Weightless while watching ripples row their way across a wading pool
A pool that portended peace
A peaceful pool in the coolness of a kiss in springtime
A scene of serenity
Weightless
Thinking
Unblinking
Sinking into a pool of my own
A pool of thought
Caught somewhere between actuality and a playground in Poughkeepsie
And the thought occurs to me
No longer a blur to me
But crystal clear
As I consider the word “trivia” as in those trivia games people play
One might choose to say that I have a dispute with “Trivial Pursuit”
Well for just a moment or two let’s examine, explore, expose and exhume if you will
The meaning of the word “trivia”
Now I don’t own a dictionary, nor does anyone nearby
But as far as I can tell
The root word of “trivia” is trivial
As in unimportant, inconsequential, insignificant, and most notably
Trifling
And so I’m rifling through the attics and dungeons of my medulla oblongata
And I gotta say, in reference to these trivial games
No matter how convivial the participants are
I’m not spending hours being asked frivolous questions
And hearing petty answers
Answers that may be wrong or right
And thus to be edified and educated by the inconsequential
Meaning, in essence, of no consequence to anyone
At anytime
In any place
But that’s just my opinion
Coming from someone who comes dangerously close to being labeled a fool
Weightless
Weightless while watching water in a wading pool
Floating
And noting the trivial and trifling
© 2012…copyright…PHREEPOETREE ~free cee!~
Categories:
poughkeepsie, angst,
Form:
Free verse
IBM Town
Dad whisked us away,
Mom heavy with babe,
Away from relative hands,
Two year old's off to IBM lands.
It was the machine of opportunity.
A place with technical commotion.
My Dad loves to light the flame,
All aboard the modern train.
His workplace filled with computers -
Large as houses. Do i exaggerate?
Certainly there was no moving mouse.
We moved into our Poughkeepsie house.
The village had a gray one with a pump
Station in back, workmen made a path.
Nevertheless life for us kids sends
neighbors who become lifelong friends.
I lived in the Hudson Valley, a beautiful place,
With swimming in Spring and sledding in Winter.
We loved to tour historic Hyde Park. I can still
See the sign with F.D.R.’s silhouette. We’d chill
Watching fireworks, stretched out on the green grass,
Of the Vanderbilt estate, walk alongside its stone fence.
The culinary my future son would attend also in that town.
He’d earn two diplomas, double serving his graduation gown.
6/20/2017
Categories:
poughkeepsie, childhood, home,
Form:
Rhyme
I once met a man from Poughkeepsie
Who appeared to be rather tipsy
Wandering about;
Drinking his dark stout,
I'm fairly certain he's a gypsy.
June 2, 2021
Categories:
poughkeepsie, drink, freedom, humorous, lonely,
Form:
Limerick
I once met a thirsty man from Poughkeepsie--uh,
He drank four quarts a day of Diet Pepsi--uh,
It was certainly no dry joke
The over-saturated bloke
Died from an extremely rare case of dyspepsia.
written June 17, 2021
Categories:
poughkeepsie, humor,
Form:
Limerick
There once was a man from Poughkeepsie
who wanted his fortune told by a gypsy.
He sat down in chair,
but got up to stare
for old gypsy seemed a little bit tipsy.
Categories:
poughkeepsie, humor,
Form:
Limerick